Which to use
“dark” and “day” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,646
- “dark” frequency rank
- #3,718
- “day” frequency rank
- 10364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dark | day |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Tageszeit mit Dunkelheit, Finsternis | der Tag |
Where the eye mixes dark and day
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dark vs day
A purely visual mix-up. dark ([daːk]) and day ([deɪ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dark is recorded at frequency rank #6,646, classified as anoun, pronounced [daːk]. day is at rank #3,718, tagged as anoun, pronounced [deɪ].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 10364, this pair ranks #1,975,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dark vs day
Shared letters: ad. Private to "dark": kr. Private to "day": y.
"dark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "day" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dark ← adrk · dakr · darkk · darrk · ddark · drak
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dark" for "day" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "dark" or "day" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "day" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,975,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dark" and "day" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dark vs dörr". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,975,508 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.